Frank Stecker

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Harness Maker In 1880 Morton Census
• Census: 1880, Morton, Tazewell Co., IL
• Census: 1900, Morton, Tazewell Co., IL

Notes:

Obit: Herald of Truth, published May 9, 1905:
“Stocker.- On the 6th of May, 1905, in Tazewell Co., Ill., Joseph Stocker. He leaves a wife, four daughters and one son. Interment on the 8th in the Pleasant Grove burial grounds.?”

Census:
Joseph Stacker, a 35 year old harness maker in the household of wagon maker Daniel Steiner, 43.

Census:
Harness maker, Joseph Stacker, born Ohio in Sept 1844; Katie, born Illinois June 1857; living with six of their children (They had 10).

Buried:
Pleasant Grove

Joseph married Catherine (Katie) Oyer on 14 Dec 1882. Catherine (daughter of Joseph Oyer and Catherine Schrock) was born on 23 Jun 1856 in IL; died in 1910 in Tazewell Co., IL; was buried in Tremont, Tazewell Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1860, Groveland Twp., Tazewell Co., IL
• Census: 1880, Morton, Tazewell Co., IL
• Census: 1900, Morton, Tazewell Co., IL
• Census: 1910, Pontiac, Livingston Co., IL
• Residence: 1917, Peoria, Peoria Co., IL
• Census: 1920, Peoria, IL

Notes:

Had ten children.

Birth:
Date on Gravestone

Census:
Listed as four years old, living with her parents

Census:
Lsted as Joseph 'Stacker,' a 35-year-old harness maker in the household of wagon maker Daniel Steiner, 43. His birthplace is listed as Ohio, and that of his parents as Lorraine.

Census:
They appear as harness maker Joseph 'Stacker', born in Ohio in September 1844; Katie, born in Illinois in June 1857; living with six of their children (they had 10).

Census:
Living with her sister Mary and her husband, Henry Bloom

Residence:
City Directory shows Catherine, wid. Jos, 515 5th Ave., and Irene Stecker at the same address

Census:
Kathryen Stecker, 61, widowed daughter Maimie Paith, 31; daughter Irene Stecker, 23, son Fred, 35, Verna Paith, granddaughter, 11; Bennie Paith, grandson, 8; Juanita Schafer, granddaughter; Gale Schafer, 6, granddaughter.

Buried:
Pleasant Grove Mennonite Cemetery

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Employed as a laborer or miller in the mill at Tragny, on Belgrade farm at Bistroff, in Bening Commune at Harprich (a farm and tile factory), at Linstroff (presumably on Hingsange farm), and finally as a jack-of-all-trades at Bertring.
• Religion: Anabaptist
• Residence: 1859, Morton, Tazewell Co., IL

Nicholas married Magdalena Eimer on 22 Aug 1841 in Hamilton, Butler Co., OH. Magdalena was born on 15 May 1819 in Lorraine, FR; died on 14 Mar 1907 in Tremont, Tazewell Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Grocer (1860 Census)
• Immigration: 1830
• Census: 1860, Pekin, Groveland Twp., Tazewell Co., IL

Notes:

Could have been the 7-year-old boy (illegitimate son of Catherine Oyer?) who traveled to America with her on the ship Superior.

Immigration:
Ship Superior

Census:
Census lists Joseph 39, grocer, Catherine 29 France, and children John 11 Ohio, Joseph 9 IL, Lena 6 IL, and Catherine 4 IL

Joseph married Catherine Schrock about 1848 in OH Or IL. Catherine (daughter of Johannes Schrock (Schrack, Gerrard) and Catherine (Elisabeth) Salzman) was born on 18 Dec 1829 in Dompcevrin, Meuse, FR; died on 10 May 1893 in Morton, Tazewell Co., IL; was buried in Morton, Tazewell Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Religion: Amish Mennonite
• Immigration: 30 Apr 1831, Baltimore, MD
• Census: 1860, Groveland Twp., Tazewell Co., IL
• Census: 1880, Morton, Tazewell Co., IL

Notes:

Catherine’s gravestone has “Katherine” as the first name spelling, however, the birth document spells it with a C.

After her husband’s death, Catherine signed her right to administer Joseph’s estate to her brother Peter. The Schrock family remembers that Peter cared for his sister and her children in some manner until Catherine married her second husband about a year later in March of 1865.

Birth:
NASL: On Dec 18, 1829, Catherine Gerard was born to Jean Gerard, 28, miller at Cheppe, and his wife Catherine Saltzmann, 26; neither witness was a relative; the document was filed on the day of birth, which took place at 4 a.m.

Immigration:
With her parents and brother

Census:
Farmer Joseph Oyer, 39, France; Catharine, 29, France; and four more children born in Illinois.

Census:
Christian and Catherin Kauffman

Died:
Gravestone gives death date as May 16, 1893

Buried:
Old Apostolic Cemetery (or Kaufman Cemetery) name is Katharina Kaufman on stone

Joseph married Barbe Farny on 7 May 1802 in Bistroff, Moselle, FR. Barbe (daughter of Christian Farny and Anne Marie Hirchi (Hirschy)) was born on 1 Jul 1777 in Bistroff, Moselle, FR; died on 9 Dec 1836 in Bertring, Moselle, FR. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Fourth child of her parents.

Birth:
Belegrade farm

Notes:

Married:
Belgrade Farm. Marriage conducted by Amish Mennonite ministers Christian Gingerich, and Christian Engel the 1833 immigrant.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Residence: Abt 1807, Niderhoff, Moselle, FR

Notes:

Birth:
Hingsange farm

Residence:
Hans and his wife took possession of the farm/mill, with five children.

Johannes married Catherine Kennel on 23 May 1817 in LaGarde, Chateau Salins, Moselle, FR. Catherine (daughter of Jean Kennel and Barbe Schertz) was born on 26 Nov 1794 in Diffenbach-lès-Hellimer, Moselle, FR; died on 2 Sep 1830 in LaGarde, Chateau Salins, Moselle, FR. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Other Events and Attributes:

• Education: In French
• Occupation: Farmer In Elm Grove Twp., Tazewell Co., IL 1850-1875
• Occupation: Miller At Cheppe Near Dompcevrin In 1829
• Occupation: Miller In Butler Co., OH (And Perhaps Farmer?) 1832-1850 (Possibly worked with the Flenner mill, since his brother Peter lived at one time near the Flenner family.)
• Religion: Amish, Amish Mennonite
• Residence: 1826, Blâmont, Moselle, FR
• Residence: 1829, Dompcevrin, Meuse, FR
• Residence: 1829, Cheppe, Dompcevrin, Meuse, FR
• Immigration: Spring 1831, Le Havre to Baltimore
• Residence: 1831, Lancaster Co., PA
• Census: 1840, Butler Co., Lemon Twp., OH
• Naturalization: Sep 1844, Butler Co., OH
• Census: 1850, Morton, Tazewell Co., IL
• Residence: 1832-1850, Butler Co., Lemon Twp., OH
• Census: Oct 1850, Butler Co., Lemon Twp., OH
• Residence: Oct 1850, Butler Co., Lemon Twp., OH
• Residence: Nov 1850, Elm Grove Twp., Tazewell Co., IL
• Census: 1860, Elm Grove Twp., Tazewell Co., IL
• Census: 11 Aug 1870, Elm Grove Twp., Tazewell Co., IL

Notes:

“John Schrock, a native of Lorraine, was of German ancestry, but was educated in French, which he spoke like a native. He was wedded to a lady of Lorraine, Miss Catherine Saltsman, and when the couple were the parents of two children, Joseph and his sister Catherine, they came to America in 1831 leaving the port of Havre in the spring. The passage across the boisterous Atlantic consumed forty-four days. They at length disembarked in Baltimore, Md., very much fatigued from the hardships they had endured during the long journey. From there they went to Lancaster, Pa., and a year later, in 1832 removed to Ohio, and located on a farm which the father operated, and in connection with it rented a mill, which he managed very successfully, it being the business in which he was most proficient. While living in Butler County, Ohio, the family was increased by the addition of three children, namely: John, Peter and Magdalena, who were bright and intelligent, and their mature years have not disappointed the fond expectations, which their parents conceived of the little French-Americans. In the autumn of 1850, Mr. Schrock and his family removed to Tazewell County, Ill., and located near Pekin, taking up wild land, but subduing it by patient industry until at their decease they were surrounded by numbers of broad acres well cultivated and supporting numerous fine domestic animals. During life they were members of the old Amish Church, and died in that communion. The father entered into his rest in his seventy-fourth year and the mother in her fifty-seventh."

(Although the newspaper article said Johannas rented a mill, I’m wondering if in fact he might have managed a mill owned by the Flenner family. Daniel Flenner bought a mill site in 1812 and sold it in 1853, according to the book “Woodsdale’s Story” by Doris Page. Johannas and his family lived in that area during that time. Amishmen Iutzi and Augspurger are mentioned also in connection with the mill. (DB)
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Newspaper article 20 Apr 1935 (at event of son John’s death)
“...Back in Ohio lived Johannes Schrock, German born and also a follower of Menno. Schrock found Ohio pretty well settled, but from the Mennonites in mid-Illinois he heard of a growing new land where acres were cheap and crops were abundant. So Johannes Schrock with three horses, pushed through from Trenton, Ohio, to Pekin and looked at this new west. He liked it. He left one horse here and drove the other two back to the Buckeye state. Arriving, he told the anxious wife, who had been Katharina Salzman in her girlhood days in Germany, that they were moving to Illinois. To Joe, the oldest youth, was given the task of driving through with the horses and cattle and what goods they had. The father and mother took the rest of the family to Cincinnati where they took a boat down the Ohio to Cairo and up the Mississippi and Illinois to Pekin.

Joseph’s son, Jonathan, was later able to point out to his family an American elm tree along the road west of Bloomington where Joseph had camped under his wagon the last night of his trip from Ohio. He had the reputation of being an excellent marksman.
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“The [Johannes Schrock] family located in a log house on what is now the Allen Miller farm five miles east of Pekin. They were made at home by the Mennonites here and kindly neighbors; and because they were honorable and thrifty, they prospered.” ,
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Johannes and his family were counted in the 1850 Butler Co. census and were still there in October. They turn up in Tazewell in November. Land records seem to indicate John made a trip to Illinois prior to taking the family in November, since he had made arrangements to purchase land from the Niewkirk family before arriving. The sale was completed in December 1850. He likely stayed with the Christian Ackerman family and happened to be there when the census taker knocked and was counted again—twice in 1850!
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From John Garber information, Walter Ropp records:
“Danny Garber, whose death by blood poisoning followed a threshing accident, should come in about here. My old Uncle Christ Ropp, who remembered everything that ever happened around there, said that his grave was the first one in the Railroad Cemetery. John Schrock, six months older and much like him said, "I know your Uncle 'Crysthel' had an awful good memory but there's one time when he was mistaken. It was the third one." And now that they are both gone these twenty years, who is going to settle it!”

Bishop Samuel Gerber many times officiated at weddings and funerals of East Bend Mennonite Church members in the early 1900s. While living in Tazewell County, the Schrocks were surrounded by Gerbers and Ropps, including Bishop Samuel Gerber and Bishop Andrew Ropp. The families were obviously close neighbors and friends, and attended church together. So it was natural for both Bishops to be involved in the marrying and burying of these people, even after they had moved to Champaign County.

When Johannes and his family first lived in Tazewell Co., they probably worshipped in the old Railroad School just across the road from Johannes’ land. W. A. Ropp writes about the school: “This school was begun about 1840 and continued to operate until 1872 or 1873 ... about the year 1835, a company was organized to build a railway eastward from Pekin--the grade was finished nearly to Tremont when the panic of 1837 stopped the work. A primitive log school house was built near the newly-graded roadway and was named the Railroad school, altho there was no railroad within a hundred miles.

“Most of the land already had been taken up by settlers, for it consisted of some small, rich, open glades just lying round to let the sunshine in, and a good grade of timberland covered by a magnificent growth of hardwoods and elms--tall, straight and clean-trunked--that gave the township the name Elm Grove.

“The first settlers were families from a number of eastern states and several German families, immigrants from the Upper Rhine country... they said they were Amish. These folks came rapidly and bought out the earlier eastern settlers, so that by 1845 the neighborhood was predominantly German. Some of the early families were the Youngs, the Hodgsons, the Griggs, several Nieukirk families, three Garber families, six Ropp families, and the Unsickers, Sommers, Schrocks, Heisers, Kings, Yordys, Litwillers, Hochstettlers, Birkeys and a few others.“
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The only known photo of Johannes has sometimes been purported as his passport photo. However, according to Wikipedia: “In Europe, general peace between the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1815) and the beginning of WWI (1914), and development of railroads, gave rise to international travel by large numbers of people. Passports were not usually required; there were limited wars which caused some exceptions.” And, photos would not have been used in 1831--photography in its infant form came later--about 1839.
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Joseph Staker, in his discussion of the Schrock family, describes the land on which they settled: “The Schrocks (and Salzmans) lived on ‘ministerial’ land they had purchased from the State of Ohio. On Jan. 7, 1796, the Ohio Company set aside Section 29 in each of the ten townships of its second purchase for the support of religion. This set a precedent. When John Cleves Symmes made the Miami Purchase on Oct. 15, 1788, it included parts of Hamilton, Butler, and Warren counties. Congress approved his purchase but followed the earlier model by reserving Section 29 in each of the three counties for religious purposes. The State of Ohio was authorized by Congress in 1833 to sell or rent unused parts of each Section 29. The money from sales was invested, and churches within the boundaries of the original township received the interest and rent income until 1968.”
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In Ohio, the family worshipped with the Augspurger congregation, where Johannes’ brother, Peter, was a minister. This group was the more conservative of the two congregations near Trenton (the other being made up mostly of Hessian Christians who were more “liberal,” using buttons on their clothes rather than hooks and eyes). No doubt the Augspurger group followed the customs of kneeling for prayer and foot washing with communion, since the East Bend Mennonite Church in Champaign Co., Illinois, continued these customs well into the 1940s.
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John and his brother Peter, and Catherine’s father, Michael Salzman, purchased adjoining land in Section 29 of Lemon Township. In 1855 John sold 81+ acres to John Shertz.










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With regard to John Schrock in their household, John and his family were counted in the 1850 Butler Co. census and were still there in October. They turn up in Tazewell in November. Land records seem to indicate John made a trip to IL prior to taking the family in November, since he had made arrangements to purchase land from the Niewkirk family before arriving. The sale was completed in December 1850. He likely stayed with the Ackermans and happened to be there when the census taker knocked, and was counted twice in 1850.
Donna }

Birth:
Date is according to marriage record. Aug 17, 1801 has been used by Willard Smith.

His father Joseph was the miller at Gondrexange during the birth years of his first children, so Johannes was likely born at the mill in the village. No birth document has been found. Nearby Ketzing estate housed many Anabaptist farm workers, so there were probably connections between the Schrag family and other Anabaptists living at the estate, and perhaps products from the farm were processed at the Gondrexange mill.

Residence:
At time of his marriage was living in Blâmont

Residence:
Miller at Cheppe, Commune of Dompcevrin. The mill was destroyed in 1914 during the war, only ruins remain. More than likely lived at the farm Chanteraine.

Residence:
48°56'11.53'' N / 5° 29' 35.00'' E A small village next to Dompcevrin that included Cheppe mill.

Immigration:
On ship list name recorded as Jno. Gerrard. Family lore says the trip lasted 44 days.

Residence:
No information found about the family’s time in Lancaster Co., PA

Census:
#155 (Brother Peter was listed also at #155)

Naturalization:
Two men vouched for John Schrock: Michael Saltzmann and Jacob Taylor.


Census:
Counted again, John Shrock, age 50, being in the household of Christian Ackerman

Census:
House #1175, Family #1316

Residence:
Living with wife Catherine, Joseph, Catharine, Peter, John; next to the Michael Saltzman family

Residence:
Left Ohio to settle in Illinois

Census:
Page 176: John Shrock, age 60, farmer, b. France; John age 17, farmer, b. OH; Magdalene age 16, b. OH.

Census:
Page 18: John Schrack, age 70, farmer; Jacobine, age 53, keeping house, born in Baden.

The information below doesn’t belong to Johannes. Does it belong to his son John?
Real Estate valued at $8000, Personal Estate at $2000. Living in the same dwelling were John, Jr., age 30, farmer; Phoebe, age 24, keeping house; Peter 3; Catharine 2, and Daniel 5/12. This family was living next to Peter Unzicker family in dwelling 119.

Buried:
Railroad Cemetery (not documented, but the most likely)

Johannes married Catherine (Elisabeth) Salzman on 8 Apr 1826 in Blâmont, Moselle, FR. Catherine (daughter of Michael Salzman and Catherine Hirschy (Hergi Hirschine)) was born on 27 Oct 1804 in Sarralbe, Moselle, FR; died in Mar 1858 in Tazewell Co., IL; was buried in Pekin, Tazewell Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Servant
• Religion: Amish
• Residence: 1826, Bistroff, Moselle, FR
• Immigration: 30 Apr 1831, Baltimore, MD

Notes:

Birth:
6 brumaire an 13 according to (Film #1981660; n/m/d 1792) Her parents were age 25 and 24 at her birth. Witnesses to Catherine’s birth: Jacob Stabe(?), age 46 and Louis Heyacker, age 23, justitier.?

Residence:
At time of marriage

Immigration:
On the April 30, 1831 ship list of Baltimore arrivals ,with her two children, Joseph and Catherine, and husband Johannes; also her father Michael Salzman and step-mother. Manifest has not been found, but they are on the quarterly summary.

Buried:
Likely Railroad Cemetery

Notes:

Johannes was living at Blâmont at the time of the marriage and Catherine was at Bistroff.
A publication of the marriage was made at commune of Rhodes at Bistroff.

Witnesses:
Father of the groom, Joseph Schrack, living at the mill at Bachats, age 52, and Marie Nayhouser, age 53, mother of the groom
Nicolas Cherrier, age 50 years; Augustin Demontzey b. 1763.
Michael Salzman, age 44, miller at Xirange, father of the bride
André Chertz, age 33 years (born 1793), an uncle “par alliance” (by marriage) of the bride.

Married:
The French marriage index says Catherine Hergi was no longer living at the time of Catherine's marriage in 1826.